type-oh's and other words

A typo that made me stop and smile:

"Her Brother Andrew Birkin captured their together" (via blog.burnedshoes.com)

B.J. Novak on Mindy Kaling as a writer:

“Mindy has long been considered the best writer on The Office, and every actor on the show thinks she writes for them best,” says Novak. “There is the extra little ‘smile’ that infuses her scripts, which is hard to quantify. My guess is that it stems from a real loving sense of the superspecific inner life of every character. Characters aren’t joke machines to her, or types to satirize. As a person, she’s incredibly sentimental, more than anyone I’ve met, but she’s also incredibly sharp. She’s unabashedly both. That allows her to express real emotions without shyness, but also without clichés.” (via nymag.com)

A more ordered life:

"But practiced at its highest level, mise-en-place says that time is precious. Resources are precious. Space is precious. Your self-respect and the respect of others are precious. Use them wisely. Isn't that a philosophy for our time?" (via npr.org)

Other daily thoughts from today, August 11, 2014:

• There is a deep-seated feeling of disappointment in my gut that came from the fact that I was more affected by hearing about the death of Robin Williams than I was about my paternal grandfather's. There was no crazy emotional response; I just paused longer and thought of Genie, Mr. Keating, and Mrs. Doubtfire with such clarity, but saw the word "grandpa" and felt and pictured nothing but a blur.
• The team behind God Help The Girl is looking for volunteers to spread the word about the film in the US! One of the cities listed is San Jose and I'm completely over the moon with anticipation as to what "postcarding" might mean! It would be so wonderful to help.

I could make you mine

I've been following Neon Gold Record's blog for over two years now, and a video for their 5th anniversary was released recently. I've been reading their blog all this time for the cool music, but I never actually looked into the people behind it. The video (produced by MOI$T) really gave me a look into the effect the label has had on some of my favorite artists (and I discovered most of them through the Neon Gold blog!). This led to a lot of clicking around and Google searching, and it was all pretty inspiring.

(Listed in order of the discovery process)

1. http://neongoldrecords.com/ (from blog)
2. NG5: Five Years of Neon Gold (to video)
3. Refinery29: "How Two Buds Started Neon Gold Records" (to an article)
4. The Knocks – Dreaming (to music video by an artist from Neon Gold)
5. MOI$T (to the person who made the anniversary and music videos)

...all the way to me sitting here, thinking about not only how spectacular Lizzy and Derek from Neon Gold are because of their supportive influence, but also about the impressive videos produced and edited by the lady behind MOI$T! 

I especially, especially, especially appreciated what Justine Bowe (of Magic Man) had to say in the anniversary video about Lizzy Plapinger being one of the most inspirational female figures for her in the industry. More power to the ladies! The issue of the gender gap is something I've thought a lot about, being not only a woman, but also a person of color who wants to enter the entertainment industry.

Basically, this post is just another display of my nerdiness when it comes to subjects that intrigue me. I love discovering new music, and film or media production is something I'm going to start learning more about soon. Soon!

that's love

Lack of inspiration? Lack of motivation? Fear of the future? Excitement? Sleep deprivation?

I guess these are all just little excuses I've come up with to compensate for my lack of writing. I'm doing my best to settle back into the routine of school, but for some reason spring quarter hasn't felt as "smooth" as the last two. It might just be the weather that's making me feel detached from schoolwork, or maybe it's just that a couple of my classes aren't as engaging as they should be (bitin' my thumb at these boring freshman critical thinking/cultures courses!). It could also be the hectic chaos that comes with this time of year in terms of all the big culture shows and events, along with elections and getting ready to transition into a new board. If anything, it's honestly probably the overwhelming combination of all of these things.

Nevertheless, since I don't have as many words and ramblings to share, I thought I'd just compile a handful of pictures and snaps from my life this past month or so.

answered

The weeks leading up to the end of winter quarter and the start of spring quarter were so hectic and so busy that I hadn't realized that I'd begun to lose sight of some crucially important things. Luckily, a 4 to 5 AM chat with a close friend on the other side of the globe this past Friday night (Saturday morning?) sort of set in motion a new series of little happenings, and I just realized that my anxieties have been answered by the universe. A sense of gratitude and appreciation for everything that is going on in my life has been revived in me and I can honestly say that I feel invigorated again.

After a long Friday night that seemed to never end, I came home to a silent house, as usual. I crept into bed but all the things on my mind that I've been pushing aside flooded over me and I realized how much I needed someone to talk to, despite how exhausted I was. I saw that my friend was awake in Taiwan so I sent her a message; we ended up video calling each other for at least an hour. After talking to her and listening to her feedback, I felt a little lighter, because I think what I really needed at that time was to hear myself put into audible words all my pent up frustrations and disappointments, rather than let them continue to stew in my brain and drain my energy. I've been worrying about being "spread out too thin" between my obligations to my club, my role in the Commuter family, and my place in another group of friends I'm slowly growing closer to. I guess the weeks at the end of winter quarter and the days leading into break/Week One of spring quarter made me feel really detached from these three social circles, and for a moment I'd felt a bit lost and lacked a sense of belonging.

Tonight, despite it having been another long day, ended on a really comforting note. I spent an hour after PCN modern dance practice talking to my ate, and just all the things we talked about and learned about each other reminded me how important it is to open up a little bit once in a while. (And that's something that has become increasingly difficult over time for me.) I'm going to work harder towards maintaining these human connections.

things not to be forgotten

My apologies for skipping recaps of Week 6 through Week 9! I've been busy just about every single day for the final half of this whirlwind of a quarter, and even though I'm currently on Thanksgiving break, I feel like I need to use my time off to sit down and breathe (and nap) more than I need to write every single thing out. I really wish I could reach into my brain, make a copy of every memory I've made this past month and just stick it in a blog post and call it a wrap, but alas, technology has not advanced to such a stage. So, please bear with me — I'm simply going to list out the little things I don't want to forget (and I've probably forgotten many things already). Honestly, I'm not even sure if any of this is in chronological order, but I'll do my best:

KAA Clue Night/Reveal • AMAZINGNESS. I feel so lucky to have two bigs: a kuya and an ate who are two of the coolest people I've ever met. We're all so quirky and a little awkward but in a fun-loving, sweet and wonderful way that makes me feel like sunshine is radiating from within the depths of my tummy/existential being. (*cough* Forgive the dreadful metaphors, I'm lying in the dark on my bed typing this out without really doing much editing. I think I'm feeling a little hungry, too.)

Spam Musubis • Made 167 spam musubis with APSU board! Our original goal was to make 300, but boy, I was so sick of spam by the end of the night. I was kind of dizzy, too. It was really fun though! It made for a successful fundraiser, too. $$$$$

PCN Casting • Believe it or not, I tried out for Barkada's Pilipino Cultural Night. I haven't done a choreographed dance in almost three years, but I was drawn in anyways. I'd missed out on parts of the dance lessons, so I went early to re-learn everything. So tired afterwards (I was the second to last group to audition) but I think it was still a fun experience. Can't wait to find out which dance I've been sorted into!

Pride and Prejudice • The theatre department put on an adaptation of one of my favorite Jane Austen novels! Of course I went to watch it. It was wonderful. Mr. Bennet's performance was spot on, as was Mrs. Bennet and, of course, Mr. Darcy. Much applause for Mr. Bingley, too! On another note, I really envied Mr. Bennet's lovely monk strap loafers. Mmf. Get in my closet.

Working in the library until 2 a.m. during Week 9 • The library closes at two, and not until Dead Week will it be open 24/7. Reasons for staying so late: history paper thesis and research, CTW essay draft, studying for Latin midterm, and painting the banner for Barkada's Typhoon Relief fundraiser. All noble efforts, and not a single regret. I got to spend good time with my ate, too (':

M helping me buy new taillights and teaching me how to install them • M is probably the most independent, fierce, intelligent, sassy and all-around badass woman I've ever befriended. Seriously. She's so warm and caring all at the same time. So grateful to have her as a good friend. It rained pretty hard last week, and I had stupidly decided to ignore the fact that my taillights were out until the very last minute. M didn't want me to be in danger so she went and bought new bulbs for me and showed me how to install them. So much gratitude and love.

I've definitely missed a lot of things, so I will come back and add more if anything comes to mind. Thanksgiving Break shenanigans will go in a separate post, hopefully with more pictures than this one. That's all for now!

xx

week four (initiation, family, and little reasons to smile everyday)

The last page in the booklet from Little Joy's eponymous album.

Inspiration for the week of 10/13-10/19:

• Aaron James Gresham's posters for Vampire Weekend's UK 2013 tour
• "Emma Approved" — I love it so much already. Thank you, Pemberley Digital!

Things/people I'm grateful to and for:

• Barkada! The whole KAA family thing is making me so happy and excited!
• Honestly, I'm generally just super thankful for the MCC family
• Relatively empty highways on the nights I drive home super late
• A full tank of gas to start off each week (my gratitude for this is immeasurable)
• Daily "pings" (i.e., encounters and brief interactions with attractive people who make me smile)

Recap/highlights of the week:

gratitude

Old photo, taken during the summer in San Francisco.

Inspiration for the week of 10/6-10/12:

• Jennifer Dewalt, who learned to code by building 180 websites in 180 days (Seriously, she is currently my hero because I spent about a week over the summer learning HTML/CSS from Codeacademy but I lost motivation because I didn't know where/how to apply what I'd learned. Discovering her feat just blows me away!)
• Poetry magazine (I need to renew my subscription.)
• Mathilde Roussel

Things/people I'm grateful for:

• Google Hangouts and Skype
• Finding fellow English majors at school
• The people who have made me feel so welcome at school

Things that happened this week but I'm too lazy to make a separate post for:

• Halloween Haunt at Great America with some friends. I can handle horror movies, games, and books, but when it comes to being spooked and chased in person, you can count on me to cling onto your arm or hold your hand for dear life. I'm more scared of being jumped at than I am of a person dressed up in a creepy costume. (My goodness, I'm actually considering going a second time with a different group of people.)

What I've been listening to:

• The Speed of Things (2013) by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

you belong here

Inspiration for the week of 9/29-10/5:

• James and Aubrey (Actually, just watch all of this guy's videos. They're fantastic.)
• "I am learning everyday to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me." — Tracee Ellis Ross, in an interview for UPTOWN
• Margaret Howell S/S 13 (photographed by Mark Sanders)
• Start Small: Why Tinkerers Get Things Done via 99u
• "We don’t give other people credit for the same interior complexity we take for granted in ourselves, the same capacity for holding contradictory feelings in balance, for complexly alloyed affections, for bottomless generosity of heart and petty, capricious malice. We can’t believe that anyone could be unkind to us and still be genuinely fond of us, although we do it all the time." — Tim Kreider, from I Know What You Think of Me

Things and people I'm grateful for:

• The cute tech guy who complimented the customizations I'd done to my Mac.
• The campus library
• The fact that my dog still loves me even though I'm rarely at home anymore
• More future concert buddies
• All the old copies of The Santa Clara Review that I picked up this week around campus
• The APSU board members who've been taking care of me

What I was listening to while compiling this post:

• Pure Heroine (2013) by Lorde
• You Belong Here (2013) by Leagues
• AM (2013) by Arctic Monkeys

week two

Stranger: "Oh, so what dorm do you live in?"
Me: "I commute, but I actually live in the library. Second floor to be exact."

Week started out slowly, but then I blinked and now it's Saturday. I guess that's a sign that I'm starting to acclimate to college?

Honestly, I'm not really in the mood to pick out every single detail of my week (currently in the library taking a study break from Latin), so I guess I'll just do a general overview and mention a few highlights.

I'm really starting to get a feel for my classes. Latin is pretty awesome. It's tough, but I love learning languages. The grammar is really new to me, but it's a cool challenge. I've been seeing it as a puzzle and it feels so good when I get rollin' on my homework. It's really satisfying. First quiz on Monday—wish me luck! As for Sociology, I'm having a lot of fun listening to my professor. He's quirky and always has something cool to say. I'm hoping to contribute more in class.  English/CTW is pretty good too. I thought it would be my least favorite class (even though I'm an English major, go figure) but my first essay's draft is darn awesome and I'm looking forward to more class discussions.

One thing I've really been liking about the quarter so far is that I have no busy work. Everything that I'm assigned has a purpose that's geared towards improving my comprehension of what we're going over in class. Favorite assignment so far—the Eye Contact Project for Sociology. Everything else is mostly reading and being able to talk about it in class. Cool beans. My CTW class revolves around food (Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan) and it makes me really happy and involved because this past summer I spent so much time researching different nutritional regimes and diets.

I've also been spending a lot of time at the library. It feels good to get stuff done here. I simply can't concentrate at home anymore. My productivity level drops to zero once I set my things down in my bedroom and see my dog.

Club meetings have also started. I joined two multicultural clubs: CSA and APSU. I'm going to run for a position as freshman rep for APSU! Went to their Tomi Seafood brunch today and two of the board members really took care of me and made me feel welcome. Reminds me of back when I first joined Key Club in high school. Fingers crossed and hope I get the position! I also have to email the Santa Clara Review and ask if I can hop on as a volunteer assistant to a genre editor. So nervous but so exciting at the same time!

Highlights:

• Still feeling a little left out as a commuter sometimes. Once I get more involved in CSA and APSU I'm hoping it'll go away. Keeping a strong, positive, friendly mindset!
• Playing piano and ping pong in Swig's basement after Curryoke at Sobrato. So much laughter and derping around.
• The cute tech guy who complimented my Mac's desktop. It made me so happy when he said he liked my dock. He even noticed that I'd substituted the menu bar icons! No one ever notices that part! Ever! He even asked if I was a CS major since I'd done everything manually, but I told him no and said I just have free time. Yeah...these are the little things that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

things and more things

Inspiration for the week of 9/22-9/28:

• (Shown above) Ana Kraš - Shy Gestures from the Avant/Garde Diaries. (Ana & Devendra collabs = !!!! = loveliest couple ever)
• Refer to this post for the poems that I discovered/re-discovered this week.
• Prof. Jensen Jeung. Only been in his class for two days and he's already my favorite.
• 100 Years From Now

Things and people I'm grateful for:

• My soon-to-be concert buddy!
• The little girl I'm tutoring.
• That guy who has the really wonderful and deep voice and who is also so humble about who he is and where he's been that it amazes me.
• My commuter buds.
• Having a car.

Things I just realized:

• I'm seeing Young the Giant on Tuesday.
• I still haven't finished watching Pushing Daisies.

What I was listening to while putting this post together:

• We Are The Tide (2011) by Blind Pilot

week one

View from the eleventh floor of Swig. Sorry you have to deal with my low quality photos (taken with my phone).

Who knew the first five days at school could feel like five months?

9/21-9/22: Welcome Weekend. Mostly just freshmen moving into their dorms and other activities. Commuters were "welcome to attend" but we were excluded from just about everything. Honestly it sucked, but I'm grateful we made a commuter group on Facebook beforehand and were able to connect and meet up with each other that weekend. It made making friends and going around campus a lot easier. I went to one party on Saturday night, and that was interesting. I was with some pretty great people so that made the experience more satisfying, but in general I don't see the point in convening with hordes of strangers who are mostly there to get high and wasted. Some say it's how you socialize and network, but how do you network with people who are just getting smashed and spilling drinks everywhere? Not cool in my book. (Especially since a lot of people were sent to get medical help that night.) Apparently it was a "really good" party, and I guess I can see why, but in general my ideal party is an intimate night (alcohol optional) with my peeps and actually getting to have good conversations, rather than having to shout over the din of shouting drunkards.

9/23-9/27: First week of classes. This quarter I'm taking Elementary Latin, Principles of Sociology, Critical Thinking and Writing (a fall/winter core requirement), and Intro to East Asia History. I'm really happy with it. Earliest class is at 11:45 am so I don't need to leave the house before eleven. Only one class on Friday, so I'm out by one in the afternoon. My favorite professor at the moment is my sociology professor. Everything seems like a blur right now and I'm getting sleepy trying to remember everything so I'll just leave it there.

At least I'm 10% done with this quarter already. Everything is going to go swimmingly. Fingers crossed.